Auger 22 Posted November 20, 2015 Report Share Posted November 20, 2015 Someone must have slipped me a mickey at the club the other night. I don't remember anything after the last bar and woke up in my hotel room 36 hours later. My hotel room had been tossed, but nothing was missing. My initial sense of panic subsided when I called the front desk and verified that the baton was still in the hotel safe. The adventure in Macao left its mark and I gave the hotel explicit instructions to keep it in the safe until I checked out. During my reverie I had this vivid dream that the Caribbean had turned into grassy plains and scattered forests. No more blue water, just green to the horizon all the way around.* The view from my hotel room reassured me that it was just a dream. After retrieving the baton I headed off to the airport. Seeing this beauty pushed all thoughts of recent events out of my mind. That guy in the hangar looks suspicious. Round engine birds are soooo sexy. I filed IFR as there were reports of cumulonimbus activity near Montego Bay. It was an easy VOR to VOR plan. Not much going on this early, so ground cleared me right to the active. "Line up and wait." Up we go, into the wild blue yonder... Cleared to 11000. This baby wants to climb at 1000 FPM no matter what. Not having an AP was a bit frustrating, but once I figured out the trim she was as stable as the pound. Last sight of land for the next 40 minutes. A gorgeous day for flying. Hmmm. The clouds are starting to get a bit thicker. Good thing I filed IFR. Passing over Montego Bay. Puffy and white are fine. Dark and menacing are not my favorite. This may get interesting. It's nice to have an exit if things go south. Always nice to see the runway before the MDA. Hard to keep an eye on the ball when you have scenery like this. A guy could get used to sights like this. Almost there. Running through the post landing check list. Time for a taxi. I'll be avoiding the bars for a bit. Matt, I'll be hanging out in the hangar. Add-ons for this flight Alabeo Cessna 195 Businessliner REX 4 Texture Direct plus SoftClouds REX Essential Plus Overdrive for real world weather FTX Global Base FTX Global Vector FTX Trees HD FreeMeshX Global - North America Jamaica land class from Avsim * I spent several hours trying to figure out why the Caribbean had been filled in and turned to savanna. I finally remembered that UTX TAC had been installed long ago, well prior to many of the FTX packages. Disabling it brought back the sea, re-enabling it filled it back in. Lesson learned. Link to post Share on other sites
stu7708 244 Posted November 20, 2015 Report Share Posted November 20, 2015 Great PIREP Pete, and some stunningly beautiful screenshots in there despite the flight being mostly over water! Incompatible scenery issues can be a b**** to sort out, good thing you managed to find the issue... we might have had to call foul play if you had been over land the whole way Link to post Share on other sites
hurricanemk1c 195 Posted November 20, 2015 Report Share Posted November 20, 2015 Excellent shots there Pete! Link to post Share on other sites
J G 927 Posted November 20, 2015 Report Share Posted November 20, 2015 Great PIREP Pete! Sorry to hear that your room got trashed. The further around the world the higher the incidence of this sort of things becomes. Clearly the bad guys are getting desperate. I thought they had an issue with me, but it seems to be escalating. Maybe there is a deeper motive than revenge on me! Link to post Share on other sites
mutley 4,498 Posted November 20, 2015 Report Share Posted November 20, 2015 Great PIREP Pete and some superb shots, thanks for getting us safely to Norman Manley. Jamaica?.. no she went of her own accord. (sorry I'll shut up) >>> verified that the baton was still in the hotel safe Well done, very conscientious Pete! Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,315 Posted November 21, 2015 Report Share Posted November 21, 2015 Nicely done Pete, great pic's including those spectacular Jamaica ones. >Someone must have slipped me a mickey at the club the other night< Yeah, I've used that excuse more than a few times. Link to post Share on other sites
hlminx 301 Posted November 21, 2015 Report Share Posted November 21, 2015 Great ride Pete. Love the choice of aircraft, and the colour of the water just makes you want to dive right in.. Time to hire some scuba gear and enjoy some R&R ? Think you earned it after the trials of the last few days Link to post Share on other sites
Captain Coffee 2,030 Posted November 21, 2015 Report Share Posted November 21, 2015 Really, REALLY, you hand the baton off to me on my Birthday weekend!? I have been hanging out down here for two weeks waiting for the baton, and it arrives the day before my birthday....sigh. Well...I'm afraid the long Jamaica wait and some very friendly locals last night during my Birthday Eve Party tempted me into disqualifying myself for flight for at least a week...probably should be for a month, but I'll risk it...maybe. I have at least the rest of this weekend to try to get over this feeling of restfulness, lack of stress, peace, respect for the people around me and their different opinions and views, and this concern for their well being...gahhhh...and back to normal so that I can fly again. Great trip you had though...a lovely plane there. I was tempted a while back to get that one, but looking at all the other single engine GA's gathering dust in the hangar while I am playing with warbirds, classic racers, twins, and jets...nope. Hope you have a nice trip back to home. I'll hang onto baton and get it to the next stop as soon as possible... 1 Link to post Share on other sites
J G 927 Posted November 22, 2015 Report Share Posted November 22, 2015 I hope you had a great birthday Matt, Make sure you ...ehem.."recover" before you set off 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Auger 22 Posted November 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2015 Trip back home? I got here just in time for the party! You have the potato baton, time to cut loose! Link to post Share on other sites
Captain Coffee 2,030 Posted November 23, 2015 Report Share Posted November 23, 2015 Just be careful if anyone offers you a cigarette...just saying, should you wish to fly home in the pilot's seat... Link to post Share on other sites
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